Monday, February 1, 2010

It's raining, it's pouring, the... sprinklers are on?

Alright America, how about a little lesson in 'life outside the USA'. I realise many of you may not know this, but there are other countries in the world, it's not just the United States! Shock horror right?

In the country I live, which if you haven't already figured out, is Australia, we have been in different stages of a drought (which means, not enough rainfall therefore not enough water to grow crops) for years and years and years. We are on this thing called 'water restrictions' which dictates how long we can shower, when we can water our gardens (usually never), how we can wash our car. If it comes to water, there is a rule on how you can use it to make sure there is enough to go around.

What this mean is:A directly negative affect to 50,000 farmers and the economy and the price of food will significantly rise, contributing to inflation.Electricity shortages if hydroelectric generators are forced to shut down.Long term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole Murray-Darling basin. Many towns in Victoria (my state) are close to running out of water.Australia cannot continue to sustain its current rate of population growth without becoming overpopulated (because there is not enough water for everyone!). In fact, if we want to continue with the current standard of living we have now, the maximum population we should have, is 10 million. Too bad we already have 20.86 million.

Let's not forget America, Australia is a first world country, just like you. If this is happening to us, imagine what 2nd and 3rd world countries are experiencing.

So why, when it's raining today, is there sprinklers on everywhere?

I'm no saint, I do sometimes have long showers and I have been known to accidently leave the tap running while I brush my teeth, but this is just deliberately wasteful

About Me

Jackie is a 25 year old wannabe entrepreneur, wedding planner, health and fitness advocate and founder of Dash Event Management. Her best friend is her adopted greyhound named Dexter and she eats Vegemite straight out of the jar.